Camster Cairns

By the long cairn.














The round cairn.















Perhaps the cairns were built by small people?

















There is a gift shop and various fast food restaurants inside.


















The drive to Camster Cairns is very pleasant, up a gentle dale on a long straight, quiet road. It is a road through more than 5000 years of dwelling, a desire trail north through the bog and forest to the fertile plains around the lochs of Watten and Toftingall. As with most ancient structures, there are theories and notions about the use and origin of the structures and they tend towards the common conjecture that the buildings were for religious, ritual and/or burial purpose. We tend towards balancing such theories with reasonable alternatives, in this case the structures were very good places for storage and shelter, and we believe that was their primary useage, perhaps as some form of wayside shelter, much like a motorway service station.